No sleep for Chorley residents as railway works continue

Overnight work to electrify the railway tracks at Chorley train station chugs on.
Network Rail is carrying out piledriving workNetwork Rail is carrying out piledriving work
Network Rail is carrying out piledriving work

Network Rail is electrifying the route between Manchester and Preston.

But residents who live near the station are fed up of being kept awake in the dead of night.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The work being undertaken is disruptive so it is being carried out during weekends and at night when trains are not running.

But posting on Facebook Lisa Airey‎ demanded to know when the work will be completed.

“Works have been going on just over 12 months and we have put up with a lot of disruption,” she wrote.

“We understand the work needs to be done when the trains aren’t running but why at 2am or 3am? Why not first job of the night as soon as last train runs?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’ve a one year old as well who was up in the early hours, frightened.”

Sam Gent who was woken up at 5am on a Sunday morning went down to the station to see what was going on.

He said: “All the workmen are wearing noise-cancelling headphones as the noise level is well over 85 decibels, yet it is OK for all the local residents to be woken up by it.

“This noise woke me up from quarter of a mile away and I wasn’t the only one. I also met a gentleman who had walked from Highfield Road North to see what the noise was.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Network Rail says the updates to the tracks should be complete by December this year.

It says the work will pave the way for faster, more spacious trains.

The track needs to be realigned through the station so that faster trains can pass each other.

To make this possible, Network Rail needs to rebuild both platforms at Chorley Station.